Convert Text to Sentence Case using Excel Formulas [Quick Tips]

It is almost 3:30 am now, I stayed awake for last 23 hours so that Excel School 2 can be ready for rolling. But that is no excuse for not having a post here. So here it goes.

Excel has formulas for converting a bunch of text to UPPER, lower and Proper Cases. But not a formula to convert o Sentence case. So, today we will learn a simple formula tip to convert text to sentence case (ie, First letter capital).

Assuming your text is in C2, the formula is,

=UPPER(LEFT(C2,1))&MID(LOWER(C2),2,999)

How the formula works?

It is converting first letter of C2 to upper case [UPPER(LEFT(C2,1))] and lower case of rest of C2 [MID(LOWER(C2),2,999)]

The 999 portion is the secret code to unlock ninja features of MID formula.

Well, I am kidding of course, the 999 is just a cop-out to say give me rest of the C2, I don’t know the length of it. (of course, 999 would fail if your text actually has more than 1000 chars. In that case, just use 9999 or whatever large number you fancy.)

Another formula:

=SUBSTITUTE(LOWER(C2),CHAR(CODE(C2)),UPPER(CHAR(CODE(C2))),1)

PS: As you can guess, the above formulas assume that C2 has one sentence. If C2 has a whole paragraph, then I would really need a sandwich before thinking about that problem.

How do you convert cases using Excel?

Please share your tips using comments.

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